Singer of the 4th Rifle Battalion at Tsarskoe Selo

Édouard Detaille was France's premier military painter of the late nineteenth century, famous above all for his meticulous depictions of the Franco-Prussian War and the French army. This unusual 1889 painting of a Russian military singer at Tsarskoe Selo — the imperial residence near St. Petersburg — was painted following a visit to Russia and reflects the Franco-Russian rapprochement that was emerging in the late 1880s and would result in the formal alliance of 1894. Detaille's painting of Russian military culture served both artistic and diplomatic purposes.

Detaille brings his characteristic military-documentary precision to the Russian subject, rendering the singer's uniform and decorations with the meticulous accuracy that made his French army paintings authoritative. The figure's stance suggests the performance posture of a military choir singer.